Accounting Settings

The Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker offers support for RADIUS, an accounting, authentication, and authorization (AAA) system. In general, RADIUS servers are responsible for receiving user connection requests, authenticating users, and returning all configuration information necessary for the client to deliver service to the user.

You can configure your Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker to send call accounting information to one or more RADIUS servers. This information can help you to see usage and QoS metrics, monitor traffic, and even troubleshoot your system.

Configure an Accounting Server

Use the following procedure to configure an accounting server to receive accounting detail from the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB). You can also edit and delete existing accounting servers with this procedure,.

The remote server to which the accounting configuration sends messages uses at least one of two pieces of information for purposes of identification. The OECB accounting messages always include the NAS IP address, while some may include the NAS ID:

Network Access Server (NAS) IP address (the IP address of the OECB SIP proxy).
NAS ID. If you enter a value, the OECB sends the NAS ID to the remote server.

If you have more than one OECB pointing to the same accounting server, you can use the NAS ID to identify which OECB generated the record.

Access the Accounting Configuration object.
Configuration, Accounting.

On the Add Accounting Configuration page, go to Accounting Servers, click Add, and do the following:

Hostname

Enter the name of the host associated with the account server in hostname format (FQDN) or as an IP address.

Port

Enter the number of the UDP port associated with the account server to which messages are sent. Default: 1813. Range: 1025-65535.

Secret

Enter the secret to pass from the account server to the client in text format.

NAS ID

(Optional) Enter the NAS ID in text format (FQDN allowed). The account server uses this value to identify the OECB for the transmittal of accounting messages.

Click OK.
(Optional) Repeat steps 2-3 to add more accounting servers.
Save the configuration.

Configure Accounting

You can configure the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) to perform accounting tasks and send the information to multiple FTP push servers and accounting servers. Accounting information can help you to see usage and QoS metrics, monitor traffic, and troubleshoot the system.

Set the accounting configuration parameters to indicate where and when you want the system to produce accounting messages. Specify one or more FTP push servers and accounting servers.

Access the Accounting Configuration object.
Configuration, Accounting.

On the Accounting Configuration page, do the following:

State

Select to enable the accounting configuration. Default: Disabled.

Generate start

Specify how you want the OECB to handle generating a CDR Start message. Default: OK. Valid values:

OK—Generate the Start message when the system receives an OK message in response to an INVITE.
None—Do not generate a Start message.
Invite—Generate a Start message when the system receives a SIP session INVITE.

Generate interim

Specify an interim message to indicate to the accounting server that the SIP session parameters changed. Default: Re-invite Response. Valid values:

OK—Generate a Start message when the OECB receives an OK message in response to an INVITE.
Re-invite—Cause the OECB to transmit an interim message.
Reinvite—Generate an interim message when the OECB receives a SIP session reINVITE message.
Re Invite Cancel—Generate a Start message when the OECB receives a SIP session ReINVITE, and the ReINVITE is cancelled before the system responds.
Unsuccessful-Attempt—Generate an interim message when a SIP session set-up attempt from a preference-ordered list of next-hop destinations is unsuccessful. The interim message contains: the destination IP address, the disconnect reason, a timestamp for the failure, and the number that was called.

Intermediate period

Set the periodic recording interval in seconds. Default: 0. Range: 0-21447483647.

File output

Select to enable the OECB to generate local files containing accounting records. Default: Disabled.

File path

Specify where you want the system to store accounting record files on the OECB. (Do not use the /boot or /code file systems.) Default: /opt/logs/.

File rotate time

Set how often, in minutes, that you want to push the stored files. Default: 1440 (24 hours). Range: 0-21447483647. 0--means do not rotate the files. Note that the OECB overwrites the oldest file first.

FTP push

Select to enable the OECB to push files to the FTP server. Default: Disabled.

Push receiver

Click Add, and do the following:

Server—Enter the IP address of the FTP or SFTP server that you want to receiver the pushed files. Default: 0.0.0.0.
Port—Set the port for the server. Default: 21 Valid values: For FTP-21. For SFTP-22.
Admin state—Select to enable this server. Default: Enabled.
Remote path—Enter the path name for sending files to the push receiver. Default: Empty. Valid values: <string> prefix for filenames.
File name prefix—Enter the file name prefix to prepend to the files the OECB sends to the push receiver. Default: Empty. Valid values: <string> prefix for filenames.
Priority—Set the priority for this push receiver. Default: 0. Range: 0-4. (0 is the highest priority.)
Protocol—Set the protocol you want the OECB to use. Default: FTP: Valid values: FTP | SFTP.
Username—Enter the user name you want the OECB to use to connect to the push receiver.
Do one of the following:
Password—Click Set to enter and confirm the password you want to use to access the push receiver.

Public key—Select the public key profile that you want from the drop-down list.
Temp remote file—Select to use a temporary remote file name for the file transfer.

2. Click OK.

3. (Optional) Repeat this procedure to add another push receiver.

Accounting servers

To add one or more accounting servers, click Add and do the following:

Hostname—Enter the host name of the accounting server.
Port—Enter the port for the accounting server. Default: 1813. Range: 1025-65535.
Secret—Enter the secret for authentication.
NAS path—Enter the ID for the remote network accounting receiver.

2. Click OK.

The system adds the server to the list in the Accounting server dialog.

3. (Optional) Repeat to add another accounting server.

Click OK.
Save the configuration.

FTP Push

In addition to local and RADIUS server storage, the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) can send accounting files to an FTP server. The information sent to the FTP server is the same as that stored locally.

Use FTP push to copy local CDR files to a remote FTP server on a periodic basis. You configure FTP push by defining push receivers with the login and FTP server credentials of the remote server. At the specified time interval (file rotate time), the OECB closes the current file and pushes the files that are complete and have not yet been pushed, including the just-closed file to the FTP server.

Push receiver configurations must include:

Enabling the FTP push server
The server’s IP address and port
Remote path to the upload destination
File name prefix
Account login credentials

Multiple Push Receivers

OECB (OECB) supports up to five CDR push receivers for use with the local file storage and FTP push feature. For each receiver you configure, you can set the file transfer protocol that you want to use. (FTP or SFTP). The system uses the push receivers according to the priorities you assign by setting a 0 through 4 priority number to the server. 0 is the highest priority, and 4 (default) is the lowest.

Based on the priority level you set, the OECB uses the strategy that you set to select a CDR push receiver. If the highest priority push receiver selected using the strategy becomes unavailable, the OECB uses the strategy (hunt, round robin) to select another.

This feature is dynamically configurable. When you change the configuration, the OECB updates the list of push receivers if it has changed.

Secure FTP Push Configuration

You can configure the Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) to securely log on to a push receiver using one of the following methods that creates a secure connection.

Password authentication—Set the protocol parameter on the push receiver to SFTP, configure a username and password, and leave the public-key parameter blank. Note that you must also import the host key from the SFTP server to the OECB for this type of authentication.

Public key authentication—Set the protocol parameter on the push receiver to SFTP, set the public-key parameter to a configured public key record name including an account username, and configure your SFTP server with the public key pair from the OECB.

It is often difficult to determine whether the SFTP server uses its RSA key or its DSA key for its server application. For this reason, Oracle recommends that you import both the RSA key and the DSA key to the OECB to ensure a successful FTP Push.

It is also common for the SFTP server to run the Linux operating system. For Linux, the command ssh-keygen-e creates the public key that you need to import to the OECB. The ssh-keygen-e command sequence requires you to specify the file export type, as follows.

[linux-vpn-1 ~]# ssh-keygen -e
Enter file in which the key is (/root/.ssh/id_rsa/): /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub

If you cannot access the SFTP server directly, but you can access it from another Linux host, use the ssh-keyscan command to get the key. An example command line follows.

root@server:~$ssh-keyscan -t dsa sftp.server.com

Add an FTP Push Receiver

The Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker (OECB) supports configuring up to five FTP push servers to receive accounting files. Use the Push Receiver Add dialog located on the account-config page to access the parameters for creating a list of FTP push receivers.

If you plan to use a public key for authentication to the push receiver, create public key profile. See "Configure Secure FTP Push with Public Key Authentication."
Configure accounting. See "Configure Accounting."

To add an FTP push server to the accounting configuration,

Access the Accounting Configuration object.
Configuration, Accounting.

On the Accounting config page, do the following:

FTP push

Select to enable FTP push. Default: Disabled.

Push receiver

Click Add, and do the following:

Server—Enter the IP address of the FTP or SFTP server that you want to receiver the pushed files. Default: 0.0.0.0.
Port—Set the port for the server. Default: 21 Valid values: For FTP-21. For SFTP-22.
Admin state—Select to enable this server. Default: Enabled.
Remote path—Enter the path name for sending files to the push receiver. Default: Empty. Valid values: <string> prefix for filenames.
File name prefix—Enter the file name prefix to prepend to the files the OECB sends to the push receiver. Default: Empty. Valid values: <string> prefix for filenames.
Priority—Set the priority you want the OECB to use when hunting for this push receiver versus your other ones. Default: 4. Range: 0-4. (0 is the highest priority.)
Protocol—Set the protocol you want the OECB to use. Default: FTP: Valid values: FTP | SFTP.
Username—Enter the user name you want the OECB to use to connect to the push receiver.
Do one of the following:
Password—Click Set to enter and confirm the password you want to use to access the push receiver.

Public key—Select the public key profile that you want from the drop-down list.
Temp remote file—Select to use a temporary remote file name for the file transfer.

2. Click OK.

3. (Optional) Repeat this procedure to add another push receiver.

Click OK.
Save the configuration.